Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) provides support for preventing avoidable blindness and restoring sight for people around the world. With a focus on building comprehensive and sustainable eye care systems, SightFirst provides funding for projects that deliver eye care services, build or strengthen eye care facilities, train professionals and build awareness about eye health in underserved communities.

The Lions of District 201-Q4 in Australia, in partnership with the Lions Club of Timor-Leste and the East Timor Eye Program, received a SightFirst grant for US$465,512 to help develop the local eye care system in Timor-Leste.

As part of this project, 3 trainees who were Senior Registrars completed an 18-month training program in the capital city of Dili and earned their Post Graduate Diploma of Ophthalmology. The graduation of Dr. Bernadete, Dr. Julia and Dr. Valerio brings the total number of ophthalmologists in Timor-Leste to 4, dramatically increasing possible access to eye care for the people living on the island.

SightFirst support to Timor-Leste is ongoing with a second grant for US$600,000. Human resource training is also a focus of this project, which aims to further develop the eye care system in order to ensure sustainability by 2019.

Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) offers a variety of funding options to support various stages for disaster relief operations, including Disaster Preparedness, Emergency, Community Recovery and Major Catastrophe Grants.

For districts impacted by a natural disaster including tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and tsunamis, Emergency Grants provide up to US$10,000. Lions district governors may apply for disaster relief funds to help meet immediate needs such as food, water, clothing and medical supplies. LCIF typically awards more than US$2 million in Emergency Grant funding each year. Community Recovery Grants aid districts interested in supporting short-term clean-up and repair efforts in situations where other organizations have already addressed immediate needs. Lions district governors may submit proposals for community recovery grants.

Matteo and his parents shared a dream. Lions helped make that dream come true.

Matteo’s Dream is a real place now, a special park filled with the sound of playing children, in the town of Concord, California, just outside of San Francisco. It exists because the hopes of a boy with disabilities inspired an entire community to act.

Adopted in 2000 as an infant by Lions Liz Lamach and Rene Henderson, Matteo faced many challenges. He yearned to be able to play with the other children at the playground. But conventional parks couldn’t accommodate a boy with multiple disabilities who used a wheelchair.

What Matteo needed was an “all-abilities” park. Such parks are carefully designed so that children with limitations on their abilities to walk, see or hear are able to play alongside other children. His parents wanted the same thing. “When I was a kid, playgrounds were one of my favorite things,” said Lamach. “I couldn’t imagine him going through life not experiencing that.”

Bolstered by a US$75,000 grant from Lions Clubs International Foundation, Lions in Northern California raised more than half a million dollars for a playground over a period of three years. The project gathered momentum in 2005 when the City of Concord donated US$220,000 and the land for the proposed park—to be named Matteo’s Dream.

In 2007, the long-planned dream came together. Over eight days, 3,000 local volunteers erected the 12,000-square-foot playground. Lions from 45 different clubs were among the many volunteers.

“It was like a barn-raising, when the whole community would come together to help a neighbor,” said Concord Director of Parks and Recreation Joan Carrico. “It was just very special.”

The park accommodates children with many disabilities, giving them a chance to play shoulder-to-shoulder with other children. A rubber surface and extra-wide ramps allow children in wheelchairs to maneuver easily. Slides are specially treated so they don’t generate static that interferes with cochlear implants or other hearing devices, and a tactile slide lets children with visual impairments feel different surfaces.

Matteo was seven years old when the park named after him was built, and he loved to visit. He was especially fond of sitting in the giant rocking-boat structure. Matteo died in 2011 when he was just 11, but he left behind a legacy: a playground where all children can have fun.

The high-profile success of the Concord park energized other towns to build their own inclusive parks. Lions posthumously honored Matteo as a Melvin Jones Fellow, citing “the lives that Matteo has touched around the world through his playgrounds.”

When Lions learned that the theme of the 2014 Tournament of Roses parade—a huge annual event held near Los Angeles that is broadcast to hundreds of millions of people around the world—was “Dreams Come True,” Lions planning the Lions’ float took action. They built their float to resemble the special park and named it “Lions Built Matteo’s Dream.” The float captured the parade judge’s attention and won the Tournament Special Trophy.

The Lions helped to create something special in Concord. “There would be no Matteo’s Dream without the Lions Club,” said Lamach.

Explore the exciting history of Lions Clubs International with our exclusive Touchstone Stories series. Don’t forget to share these stories with new members so they gain an understanding of Lions history!

Through collaborations with nonprofit partners, Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) accomplishes much more than we could on our own.

LCIF is proud to partner with corporations, foundations, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that share our humanitarian spirit and dedication to improving lives. Working with these partners leverages our shared resources. Partnerships enable LCIF and local Lions clubs to have a greater impact as we work together to develop comprehensive local eye care systems, empower persons with visual impairments, fight preventable deaths from measles and rubella, provide disaster preparedness and relief, support youth, and improve communities around the world.

Our partners feel the same way! Johnson & Johnson recently released its 2016 Health for Humanity Report, detailing information on the progress toward 7 health goals for the world. One of the goals, which is on track to be met by 2020, is to “Support the delivery of 6 million eye care screenings to underserved children and corrective treatments (spectacles) as needed to 100,000 underserved children.”

In 2016, in partnership with LCIF, Johnson & Johnson supported the delivery of an estimated 2 million eye care screenings and more than 34,000 corrective treatments (spectacles) to underserved children through our Sight for Kids program. View the global health scorecard here.

Valued partnerships with like-minded organizations working toward our common goals mean we can do more together than any of us could do alone.

Approximately 30,000 Lions from around the world joined together in Chicago for the 100th Lions International Convention. The 2017 Lions International Parade of Nations on State Street was a spectacular display of Lions’ cultural diversity! See the results of the parade below. Congrats to all the winners!

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